1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to a handle for a door of a refrigerator and a method for manufacturing the same, and more particularly, to a handle for a door of a refrigerator having a rod shape, which extends in the longitudinal direction of the door and disposed on the front surface, of the door for opening and closing a storage chamber, and a method for manufacturing the handle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, refrigerators are apparatuses, which refrigerate a storage chamber in a main body using cool air generated through an evaporator in a refrigeration cycle so as to keep articles, stored in the storage chamber, in a cold or frozen state.
Refrigerators generally include a main body having a storage chamber, front surface of which is opened, and doors provided on the front surface of the main body for opening and closing the storage chamber.
The doors are hinged to the main body, and are rotated to open and close the storage chamber. A handle for allowing a user to easily open and close the corresponding door is provided on the front surface of each of the doors.
The storage chamber is divided into a refrigerating chamber and a freezing chamber, and the doors include refrigerating and freezing chamber doors for independently opening and closing the refrigerating and freezing chambers. Recently, the refrigerating and freezing chambers are divided from each other side by side, and the refrigerating and freezing chamber doors are provided at both sides of the front surface of the main body in the longitudinal direction of the main body.
Among the above refrigerators, there is a refrigerator with handles for doors, which have a rod shape extending in the longitudinal direction of the doors so that a child of short stature or an adult in a sitting posture can easily open and close the doors.
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional handle 1 for a door of a refrigerator.
As shown in FIG. 1, the handle 1 has a rod shape, which extends in the longitudinal direction of a door 2, and is protruded forwardly in a curved line so that a user easily, holds the handle 1 by inserting his/her hand into a gap between the handle 1 and the front surface of the door 2.
Brackets 3 and 4 are installed respectively at the upper and lower ends of the handle 1 so as to fix the handle 1 to the front surface of the door 2. The handle 1 is generally manufactured by extrusion using aluminum in consideration of the rigidity of the handle 1.
However, when the handle 1 is manufactured by extrusion using aluminum with an extruder, the manufacturing process is complicated and production costs are excessively high, thus lowering the productivity of the manufacturing process and deteriorating the aesthetic quality of the refrigerator.
That is, in order to reduce a loss of a material, i.e., aluminum, which is expensive, and assure a designated rigidity, the handle 1 having a hollow rod shape is provided by extrusion using aluminum with the extruder.
Further, as shown in FIG. 1, the handle 1 having a long length may be obtained by respectively preparing a plurality of pipe members 1a, 1b, and 1c having a small length by extrusion and connecting the plurality of pipe members 1a, 1b, and 1c using screws or by welding. In this case, a step for connecting the pipe members 1a, 1b, and 1c is additionally required.
Before the pipe members 1a, 1b, and 1c are connected by welding, the pipe members 1a, 1b, and 1c are bent to one side by a press bending process so as to have a designated curvature, and are polished by a chemical polishing process, such as anodizing, so as to smooth the rough surfaces of the pipe members 1a, 1b, and 1c. 
Accordingly, in case of the above conventional handle 1, steps for connecting, bending, and polishing the pipe members 1a, 1b, and 1c are additionally required. Thereby, the overall process for manufacturing the handle 1 is complicated and the productivity of the process is lowered.
Further, the above conventional handle 1 are disadvantageous in that the pipe members 1a, 1b, and 1c are easily detached from each other to spoil the appearance of the handle 1, static electricity occurs due to the use of aluminum, and, when a user holds the handle 1 in a low temperature state, such as winter, the user feels a chill.